A decade in the making, Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom sequel “Love Never Dies”, opened this week in London to some decidedly unfriendly reviews. Later this year, it will transfer its “magic” to New York City.

It's a bad joke, but we'll repeat it anyway. Q: How do you tell Chuck Norris's age? A: Cut him in half and count the rings. The man who almost beat Bruce Lee in battle is seventy-years-old on Wednesday, would you believe. We at The Daily Maverick wanted to be the first to wish him happy birthday.

Poland's Ryszard Kapuscinski was once voted the greatest journalist of the twentieth century, even though the factual ambiguity in his books had long been debated. A new biography appears to confirm the great writer's blurring of the divide between reportage and fiction. Should we think less of him?

Arts and culture minister Lulu Xingwana's recent outburst over the Constitutional Court exhibition of “dangerous”  photographs by Zanele Muholi served one important purpose: It put the spotlight on the South African government’s tragic treatment of arts and culture. Read on and weep.

The most commercially successful movie of all time ($2.5 billion and counting), Avatar, was not a match for a small little independent movie about the US Army explosive ordnance disposal team during the Iraqi War, which was made on a shoestring budget. There is still justice in this world.

The makers of hit HBO series Entourage seem to have gotten away with lampooning Harvey Weinstein in a legendary 2007 episode entitled "Sorry, Harvey". But can a small-time Canadian filmmaker get away with an unauthorised documentary on the most intimidating producer in Hollywood?

Annual results out of the Pearson media group reveal that despite a global slump in advertising, the Financial Times has posted a profit. The reason: a rise in FT.com subscriptions of almost fifty percent.

South Africa's longest-running soap opera is to air for the last time on Tuesday, March 2nd. What, if anything, has the show done for the country? And is this really the end?

ABC News is the last of the traditional big-three US news networks to implement cutbacks. On Tuesday last week, the Disney-owned organisation announced plans to retrench a quarter of its 1400-member staff. It can't be good for journalism, but the upside is that the days of the Ron Burgundy-like anchorman may finally be over.

“After playing Chopin, I feel as if I had been weeping over sins that I had never committed, and mourning over tragedies that were not my own,”  Oscar Wilde.

South Africa's only pay-TV service is "conducting research" into the feasibility of a porn channel on DStv. Really? Could the untold story be that they're preparing to take on a competitor, and that they're trotting out a strategy learned while peddling porn in Greece? A former insider bares all.

The Internet’s new social media phenomenon allows you to chat face-to-face with a random selection of tens of thousands of human beings. It’s a very good reason to give thanks for South Africa’s poor, government-induced bandwidth.

Animals. They are like humans, only more complicated. Ever since my wife and I moved from Johannesburg to the Karoo, our relationship with animals has changed. In the city, animals are akin to toys. In the wild, it sometimes seems as if we are their playthings.

A lot of blonde beefcakes belting it out, and a wall-of-sound finale that sees everyone rise to their feet and shout for more. I think I even heard someone yell “get your kit off!”.

The publications politicians fear are, in order: the Mail & Guardian, The Sunday Times, everybody else, then the Independent Group. But with extraordinary timing The Star – yes, you read that right – has taken control of SA's biggest political issue. It has also wounded Julius Malema very badly indeed.

A collection of files made available to the British National Archives on Wednesday, courtesy of the Ministry of Defence, contains thousands of reports of UFO sightings between 1994 and 2000. For British media, it’s Christmas all over again.

Stevie Smith’s famous poem about the man thrashing about in the sea could easily apply to the island nation of Kiribati. Ten years ago it was the first country to celebrate the new millennium; now it looks like being the first casualty of rising sea levels.

Two high-profile cases of plagiarism have hit the US media since the beginning of February. Jack Shafer of Slate is once again the moral voice at the centre of the controversy, but is it really as simple as he makes out?

Can you believe it's only five years old? In half a decade YouTube has changed the nature of online infrastructure, nearly caused a catastrophic policy change in the USA and given Google near-total dominance over an entire category of advertising. Now for its next trick: forcing standards-based video streaming on reluctant parties – like Microsoft.

Anthony Fabian’s portrayal of the life of Sandra Laing is not an easy movie to watch. But for that reason, it’s essential – a tale that cuts to the very heart of what it means to be South African.

The co-founder and erstwhile front-man of Genesis was always destined to be way more than a pop icon. On his sixtieth birthday, we look back on the full and extraordinary life of a performer, innovator and humanitarian.

The Republic of South Africa’s undisputed giant of letters celebrates a milestone birthday today, and even though he left us for Aussie eight years ago – and hasn’t bothered to visit or call – we love and miss him lots. Big up, JM! 

Last week a young businessman found a typo in a Woolies Twitter campaign for Valentine’s Day. There was a kidnapping involved, but some quick thinking and a whole lot of social media understanding resulted in smiles all around. 

The mostly Afrikaans, mostly rap group fronted by musician Watkin Tudor Jones (in the persona of a dude called Ninja) and his classically-trained partner, Yolandi Visser (in the persona of Ninja’s white-trash neighbour Yo-landi) went from fringe to mainstream in the blink of an eye. But even though monetary success now seems inevitable, the transition from online hype to real-world results isn’t immediate.

Here at The Daily Maverick we have spotted a new political campaign trend. Create truly awful, enhanced reality ads to ensure your candidate is remembered – even if for the wrong reasons.

Some say he’s the messiah who saved motoring journalism from a painful, boring death. Some say he is the Devil’s spawn and should be sent back to Hell, immediately if possible. All we know is his name is Jeremy Clarkson.

What’s the answer? We don’t quite know, and neither do Die Antwoord, South Africa’s new global music phenomenon, but we do know the question – why’s everyone loving our creative artists right now?

She’s been called by many, including herself, the Paris Hilton of South Africa. Mind you, Ms Hilton could learn a thing or two from Khanyisile Mbau.

It could have been just another year, another set of Oscar nominations. But it wasn't. This time South Africa featured prominently, with Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon receiving a nod for building a nation and playing really good rugby in “Invictus”. And the country is also cheering “District 9” for picking up four nominations for Best movie, Film Editing, Visual Effects and Adapted Screenplay.

Would you pay for the privilege of tweeting about your company’s products? Would you pay for a post in the comment section? The chief revenue officer of Huffington Post thinks you might.